1. Of Mice and Men An Introduction
By John Steinbeck

2. John Steinbeck Born in Salinas, California in 1902.
Attended Stanford University, but did not graduate.
While in school he worked as a ranch hand during the summers.

3. John Steinbeck (cont.) He lived in California all his life.
His most famous books deal with the lives and problems of working people (specifically immigrants coming to California to search for a better life).

4. The Great Depression In 1929 the stock market crashed,
The worst economic downturn in US history.
Without money, businesses closed down all over.
The crash affected the whole world.

5. How it Started
When the companies people invested in disappeared, so did their money.
To avoid losing money, people sold their stock in mass.
The huge amount of sold stock dropped the prices, causing more people to lose money.

6. The Results A quarter of the working force was unemployed by 1932.
People took their money out of the banks.
Without that money, banks collapsed.
People took any job(s) they could find just to survive.
Things did not change until the start of World War II.

7. The Migrant Worker A worker who travels where the jobs are.
A migrant farmer travels from farm to farm to help with the harvest season.
After that harvest is complete, they collect their money and move on to the next farm.

8. The Dust Bowl After WWI farmers went west to gain more land.
The more land they gained, the more it cost to upkeep. And the more land they took to fight that cost.
All the farming dried up the land.
A seven year drought destroyed many crops.
With crops destroyed, the farmers couldn’t afford all that land.

9. The Dust Bowl and the Migrant Farmer
The farmers moved to California in hopes that the milder climates would yield more crops.
Advertisements rose across the nation, calling for farm hands to help all the new farmers there.
Migrant workers flocked to California, hoping to find work.
But California was also affected by the Depression. There were not enough jobs for all the workers.

10. How Did They Stay Employed?
Workers were hired by the season.
In order to maintain a steady income, these workers traveled constantly to stay within the farming season.

11. The Mentally Challenged
No government programs (and few private ones) established to protect their rights.
Had to rely on friends and family for survival.
Great Depression closed most organizations designed to help.
Stereotypes again flourished that the disabled were unable to fend for themselves.